


Stand By Me

by Mermaid_of_the_Woods



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fallout (Video Games) Setting, Alternate Universe - Twins, Brotherhood of Steel (Fallout), Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Goodneighbor (Fallout), Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Nate being a shitty father, Nora was a shitty stepmom, Period Typical Attitudes, Period-Typical Homophobia, Period-Typical Racism, References to PreWar Fallout Universe, The Institute (Fallout), The Railroad (Fallout)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:15:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25551904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mermaid_of_the_Woods/pseuds/Mermaid_of_the_Woods
Summary: She could feel the thump of her body when she fell out of the pod, her eyes closing as she turned to reach her hand out for her sister. She found the hand and grabbed it tightly, them pulling close. She could feel her twin shaking, mumbling about a man with a scar staring at her. “Why didn’t dad fall out of the pod?”“The man with the scar shot him. They took Shaun and they shot him.” Edith mumbled, pulling herself and her sister on shaky feet. She turned to look at the pod housing their father, “We’ll find whoever took Shaun and get him back.”Her sister gasped, taking a step to another pod trying to release the hatch. The beep rang lightly in their ears as she was denied access to open the pod. Her manicured hand went to her mouth. “Oh God….What did Vault-Tec do?”
Relationships: Female Sole Survivor/Piper Wright, Robert Joseph MacCready/Female Sole Survivor
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

The Parton household had a quietness to it that was out of place in Sanctuary Hills during the October morning. Nate had noticed that both daughters were sitting at the kitchen table finishing out the college applications, due in only a few weeks. Shaun was still asleep in his crib, allowing him a moment to slip into the bathroom to practice his speech for the Veterans Hall dinner tonight. 

It made him realize that he had only a few months left with his daughters before they went off to wherever for college. That despite everything he had not been there for his daughters like he should have. It had taken an actual failed marriage and having to take care of one child without any help to realize what all he had missed with his daughters. That he had spent years using the military to run away from responsibility from raising twin girls that had become beautiful strong independent women. Women who had become that way with only the help of each other. 

Edith, born fifteen minutes before Esther, had a passion for all things math and science. She also resembled more of Nate in looks and personality, with dark brown hair that she had chopped off to her chin line, making her features more sharp. Her eyes could only be described as deep, dark brown eyes that met everyone with cynicism and anger. She had Nate’s tall and lanky build from before joining the army. At some points it was looking at a female version of himself. In all the schools she had quickly ended up top of the class and had pushed limits by joining the male dominated activities of robotics and science clubs that had been available at the numerous schools. 

Esther was a copy of her mother, blonde hair that trailed down her back with eyes the color of grass. There was a life to her, something that radiated in and brought individuals to her in awe. She only came up to her sister’s shoulder but had a confidence that made her seem bigger than what she was. She had followed a similar path to her mother wishing to have a life in the spotlight. She had all moments that weren’t used for academics in various dance, vocal, and acting lessons. It had been in June and July of this year she had become the very first Miss Nuka World and he had also refused to go for that due to the marriage that was now in shambles. It was also painful, to see his daughter in the place that destroyed his wife all those years ago. 

“Dad, don’t worry.” He turned to see Edith standing there with her arms crossed. “You’re going to kill them at the Veteran’s hall tonight.” 

“You think so?” 

She shrugged, before stepping in there. “You’ll either do great or you’ll do terrible. I finished my application for CIT.”

“That makes how many colleges you applied to?” 

“Twenty-two. I want to keep my options open.” She smiled at him, before shrugging. “Also, the Vault-Tec rep is here, he wants to confirm your information. I think Esther’s talking to him.”

He took a few strides into the living room, to see his daughter standing there talking to the anxious man. “So how many more sales do you have to get in order to get those steak knives?” He heard her ask, chuckling. 

“I have three more. They won’t be for this vault, the Parton family got the last four spots for Vault 111.” He replied, looking up to see Nate standing there. “Mr. Parton!” 

Esther rolled her eyes, shaking her head before sliding into her room. That bitch Nora, had bought a two bedroom house and had forced a renovation in the middle of winter. The only place that it could be was a doorway cut through the laundry room. She sighed, laying out the light blue dress of tulle that she was going to wear tonight. 

She slid her hands down the tulle, fingers dragging on the darker shade band. It had been similar to the one her mother had worn once before in an old family photograph. She wondered if her mother had been alive would things be easier. That it would be easier than being her mother’s ghost. She sighed, wiping a tear from her eye and shaking her head. 

She could hear Codsworth and her sister telling everyone to come look at the television. Her feet carried her from her room to stare at the television in horror. The words that the anchor was saying made her head reel, that there had been nuclear strikes in New York and Pennsylvania. Her feet seemed frozen as her heart dropped in its stomach, realizing that everything was being ripped from her. It was first the past that she should've had, now it was the future she had fought so hard to get. She could barely hear her sister screaming at her to run. She felt her hand being grabbed by her father, eyes flashing to see Edith holding Shaun. 

Part of her wished that they would have never made it to the vault late, because a future where she couldn’t chase down the answers that she had been searching for was no future she wanted to live in. 

* * *

Edith’s hands were bruised as she screamed loudly. She watched as the man in front of her pointed the gun as her father fought to keep Shaun in his arms. She wondered if anyone could actually hear her, hear the screams that burned her throat. She heard her father’s voice rang that he wasn’t giving them Shaun. Then the gunshot rang out like a pierce in her heart. 

Her voice was raw from the screaming as tears streamed down her face. She watched as the man disappeared from sight for a moment before coming back into her view. “At least we still have backups.” Then once again, she felt the cold seeping through her body. 

She could feel the thump of her body when she fell out of the pod, her eyes closing as she turned to reach her hand out for her sister. She found the hand and grabbed it tightly, them pulling close. She could feel her twin shaking, mumbling about a man with a scar staring at her. “Why didn’t dad fall out of the pod?” 

“The man with the scar shot him. They took Shaun and they shot him.” Edith mumbled, pulling herself and her sister on shaky feet. She turned to look at the pod housing their father, “We’ll find whoever took Shaun and get him back.” 

Her sister gasped, taking a step to another pod trying to release the hatch. The beep rang lightly in their ears as she was denied access to open the pod. Her manicured hand went to her mouth. “Oh God….What did Vault-Tec do?” 

They finally found the door to get them out of that room, out into the hall. They tried pulling on the door straight to the opening of the vault with no avail. Both of their hands shook as they tried another door. They leaned on each other as they walked through the hall, her sister gasping when she saw something. When Edith turned to look, whatever it was had already disappeared. 

They raided an office right beside the unopened door, Edith swiped a stimpack while Esther shoved a pack of cigarettes in her bra. The door had opened into another hall, which had another door. “What do you think happened to the workers?” 

“They either left us here or died.” Esther responded, shrugging. “I guess we’ll find out.” She leaned down for the hatch of the door. “I see a security baton on that table. We might want to grab it.” 

When Edith looked for it, her sister screamed climbing up on the table. “What the fuck is that?!?” Edith didn’t want to know, she leaned down and hit it with the baton, killing it. 

“I think….I think that’s a giant roach.” 

“Oh course those things would survive the end of the fucking world. I already hate them.”

“Next time, kill it and not scream. Let’s check out that kitchen.” 

They continued down the dark vault halls in silence, looking at the skeleton of one of the workers. Edith sat down once they had reached a terminal reading that there had been a fight between the staff and the overseer in regards of when the doors could be open. She watched her sister walk towards a gated area. Her eyes trailed on the words, watching her reach down and grab a pipboy. 

She quickly unlocked the door, grabbing the pistol beside her. “How did you learn to load it?” 

Esther shrugged for a moment, “Well, we did live in Vegas before we moved here. I was sixteen and handsome soldier boys were willing to get some romance.” 

“You had sex with a guy to teach you how to use a gun?” 

“No. I gave him a blowjob.” She replied, stepping into the hall. “What you want to do is take a deep breath right when you aim and let go slowly as you pull the trigger.” She aimed at one of the roaches, before shooting it. “Well worth the dick in my mouth.” 

They made quick work of the roaches in the hall as they found the entrance to the vault once again. She turned to look around, seeing the skeleton and the second pipboy in the area. “Are we the only ones left?” She asked, scoping it up and placing it on her arms. “Did anyone actually survive out of here?” 

“If they did, they’re dead.” Esther replied, finding a cord in her pipboy. “Looks like this is our ticket out.” She replied, putting the end of it into an outlet. Her hand slammed down on the button, hearing the noises that signaled the living of the Vault. 

Edith grabbed her sister’s hand as they walked towards the Vault. It had been tradition with their mom before she had passed, every single new home they walked into with hands tightly clasped around their own. After, the tradition had continued with the twins holding each other's hands. They stood on the center of the platform, sides pressed against each other.  _ Enjoy your return to the surface. And thank you for using Vault-Tec.  _


	2. 2

“Is that….” Esther cocked her head to the side as she took a step closer towards what had been their house. “Codsworth?” Her feet stepped slowly as they walked around the suburb that had once been a previous home of theirs. The area had shown signs of decay, with some houses being completely destroyed due to whatever time had passed through. From what they could see, even their add on room had been destroyed. 

The Mr. Handy in question was humming, as he managed to tend the house. Their feet stopped as she could only stare at the only familiar thing they had seen since leaving the Vault. She could feel her sister shift a step, showing her uncertainty, a trait that both of them shared. They could only look at him with uncertainty as the Mr. Handy turned towards the twins. “As I live and breathe! It’s really you two!” 

“Codsworth,” Edith breathed, pressing her hand on her chest. “If you’re still here does that mean other people could be alive too?” 

“Of course I’m still here Miss Edith! Surely you don’t think a piece of General Atomics equipment that was modified by you would still be here after over two hundred years?” Esther couldn’t believe what the Mr. Handy had just stated, her eyes flashing towards the shock of her sister’s face that mirrored her own shock. “Though, both of you girls look worse for wear. It’s best that we not let your father see you in this state. Speaking of him, where is he and young Shaun?” 

“Someone came into the vault.” Esther hesitated for a moment, before turning to look at her sister. “I didn’t get a good look at them, they had guns. I remember hearing a gunshot.” 

“They shot Dad….” Edith continued, blinking her eyes as she wiped a tear away. “They shot him and then took Shaun.” 

“These terrible things you two are saying young Miss! Why not have a distraction!” 

“Nothing makes sense!” Esther screamed, throwing her hands up as she looked between her sister and the Mr. Handy. She could feel her head going a thousand miles an hour with questions that had yet to be answered, though it was her sister's mouth that formed the words. “First off, why would someone kidnap a baby! He had just turned three months old. Also, you just calmly throw around the fact that it has been over two hundred years.” 

“A bit over two-hundered and ten! That’s giving a bit for Earth’s rotation and any old dings to the ole chronometer. That means…. You girls are two centuries late for dinner! With Esther’s schedule for all those lessons and Edith’s clubs you must be famished. I’ll whip you up a snack.”

Esther turned to look at her sister, before shaking her head. She could feel the frustration and confusion between the two of them continue to boil. If everything they were saying had been correct then they had somehow survived over two hundred years to be woken up at this moment. She could only run her hands through her hair, hearing her sister finally ask the question on if their Mr. Handy (and if they went by pre-war laws now technically their guardian for the next few weeks) if he was okay. 

In other words, Codsworth was not okay. The fact that he had spent over two hundred years trying to keep the house in pre-war shape. The twins could only watch the Codsworth cry in Mr. Handy that he had tried to polish rust. Esther could only ask what he knew, in which he stated that with the bombs came, everyone had left. That he could only assume that they had perished along with the rest of the family members. With that, he had handed both girls two different holotapes stating that he had recorded them for the girls eighteenth’s birthdays. 

Esther could only stare at hers, feeling tears prick her eyes. There had always been rough patches between Nate Parton and his daughters, a combination of a single military parent and the anger and frustration of losing his wife. What hadn’t helped is the constant reminders of everything he could’ve had, but had lost. It seemed like when Nora had walked out it was a sign that Nate Parton needed to be a parent to all of his children. In the past three months he had tried, asking questions and trying to catch up in their lives. 

The moment of silence was broken by Edith, her eyes turning to face up towards Codsworth. “Thank you for these.”

“Shall we search the neighborhood together? We might be able to find young Shaun just yet?” 

* * *

Edith could only lean back on the couch, her sister’s legs in her lap. “Tomorrow we’ll go to Concord.” She replied, “We spent all day going through the houses, I don’t want to go when it’s dark.” Her fingers twirled around the holtopae case that Codsworht had handed her. 

“I think we should listen to them. If the date on the pipboy is correct, we’re technically 227 years old.” Esther stated, “Come on, you’re not curious about what he said? Man was halfway in our life growing up. Also, we might die in the...” she watched her sister pause and count on her fingers, “almost nine days until our birthday.” 

“Aren’t you bright and cheery?” Edith teased, sarcasm dripping down like venom. She then shrugged as her eyes flashed to Codsworth was cooking one of the bugs that they had killed. “I mean, you are right. I’ll be surprised if we can even get one lead on where or what the fuck happened to Shaun.” 

“If we do that, then I believe we owe ourselves a drink. I feel like the old world ages on drugs and drinking don’t exist in this new world. I can’t wait to watch you take your first drink of anything.” She replied, smiling. 

“And when did you?” Edith asked, eyebrow raised at her sister. 

“I spent the entire summer with a twenty-six year old Second Lieutenant.” Esther replied watching the raised brow of her sister, “When we lived in Vegas and you were doing your smart person thing. When I wasn’t at my performance lessons I was his mistress. Had to get completely drunk for my first time, so I don’t remember losing my virginity, just that I had.” 

“That sounds completely illegal.” Edith replied, watching as her sister shrugged. They had lived in Vegas when they were fifteen years old, it had been two weeks left in the school year when they had moved. They hadn't even started the school year there, just the summer that she spent working the one REPCONN camp that ended up having two different lawsuits. Luckily those were not her group of campers. “What made you want to do it?” 

“I knew no matter how good I was, no man would take my acting and singing skills seriously. That the only way I was going to get to the top was by fucking my way there. I never told you because you would’ve confronted how wrong it was. In those situations the pretty little girls who bat their eyes are the ones that get hurt. I know I had the skills, I just wanted to make sure I got there.” 

“Well, now, I’ll just shoot them. The next time you have sex is because you want to, not because it will make a situation better okay?” 

“I’m playing dad’s tape just so that we can end this conversation.” She replied, shaking her head as she popped open the holotape case staring at the tape. Edith held her breath as she slid in it, pressing play. 

_ Little fingers away, you can hear your fingers in your other sister’s at the end. Esther, my fearless little girl. Life has not been kind to your or your sister, I honestly haven’t helped with that. Though, we have a few months left to make it right until you’re off in New York City pursuing the one thing that has constantly set your life on fire. I can’t wait until I see you in your starring role on that Broadway stage getting the applause that you have clawed tooth and nail for. But you’re so much more than that, you’re so kind of a person and one of the two best big sisters ever. I’ve seen you be so much more of what everyone expects of you, I had honestly no idea how much you have helped people in life, that your end goal was to start an orphanage for children that had no parents. That your time with your grandparents had molded you in a way that you wanted to make the world a better place. I’m going to be excited to see what you do with your life, how you manage to shape the world in order to make it a better place.  _

Edith watched as her sister wiped the tears from her eyes. “Your turn.” 

_ Edith, my intelligent daughter. Sometimes, I wonder how we got blessed with someone as intelligent as you. I know for a fact you didn’t get it from your mother or I. Life, like with your sister, has already not been kind to you guys. Even still, the sheer amount of determination I’ve seen you pursue in a male dominated field makes me take a step back and realize that you’re going to inspire thousands of little girls one day. You’re also one of the two best big sisters in the world, with your kindness and strength to stand up for what you believe in. You’ve also marched to the beat of your own drum, and had never let anyone else tell you otherwise. Also, I had seen you with the girl who lived a floor below us when we lived in Boston. I want to tell you this, let nobody tell you who you can or cannot love Edith. Take the world by storm, are you agreeing with me Shaun? Oh yes you are, oh yes you are. _

Esther raised an eyebrow at her sister, "I didn't know you liked women. You could have told me that was what was wrong with all your blind dates." 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had this chapter sitting in my files for a month. I have no excuse why I've not posted it. 
> 
> On the bright side, I finally got to go back to work.

Preston could only watch as another raider went down from behind where they stood, the feeling of helplessness slowly leaving his body.  His eyes had not yet found the person standing anywhere near the raiders, causing a second one to go down before he could get his musket reloaded.  It was when he heard the yelling of a girl that he saw what had been taking the raiders down.  He watched the girl that yelled, almost black hair hanging from her face, as she took a knife to pop the bullet out of her leg. Her eyes flashed towards another gunshot before ripping away some fabric from the dead raider and wrapping it around her leg. 

He paused, seeing another girl pop up hidden. Her blonde hair was tied up with something, messily following out as she walked closer to the other girl. From look, the girls seemed to have nothing similar in common, the only thing possibly binding them was being from a vault. Their bright blue Vault suits stuck out in the muted colors of Concord. 

She pointed towards the wrap, before crossing her arms at the girl. It was a silent question of what she had done, the dark haired girl could only shrugged before pulling stuff of the dead raider at their feet. 

“Hey up here on the balcony!” He yelled, watching both girls turn their guns towards him eyebrows raised. This was a last minute ditch, a last minute stretch of hope that there were good people in the world. A last ditch chance at hope before their time was up.  “I’ve got a group of settlers inside! There’s raiders almost to our doors. Please! Grab that laser musket and help us.” 

He watched as the blonde girl looked towards the other girl, then the musket before diving after it. She stopped for a moment trying to figure out how to load it, before turning to the other girl. He watched her dart from his view and the slamming of the door.The dark haired one shook her head, following after. 

* * *

Edith watched as her sister kicked the gigantic lizard-like thing with her foot, the power armor making a slight dent in it’s already bloody face.  “The fuck is this thing?” She asked, releasing the helmet and holding it as she eyed the rag-tag group. “It tried to eat my face.” 

“That’s a Deathclaw, it’s smaller than most. Still, it’s a good thing that it’s already dead.”  The man, Preston if she could remember stated.

He had given Esther the caps and ammo for the laser musket strapped to her back as a reward. Then there was the invite to Sanctuary, a settlement that Mama Murphy had talked about with the sight.  “They’re going to Sanctuary, invited us if we want to come along.” Edith stated, watching as her sister shrugged before as she started heading in the direction towards the Pre-War neighborhood that they had lived in before everything happened. 

She rolled her eyes, realizing that with Codsworth chainsaw limb and fire adapter it might be better for one of the sisters to head on.  She followed the settlers, watching Esther’s figure disappear as she ran away. Her eyes followed around the new surroundings, before checking her pipboy. 

I t had been a little over forty-eight hours since leaving the vault.  It was strange to think of, in her mind it made sense to be fretting over college applications and vying against students already in college for the numerous internships in college. 

She followed the group in silence, watching them as she shook her head getting those thoughts out of her head.  They would never find Shuan if they kept in the past, they had to press on towards the future. Their father would have wanted them to press on to find the missing child instead of grieving him. The only downside is they had so much of this world they needed to learn. 

Her eyes looked towards Esther sitting on one of the concrete pillars beside the bridge, Power Armor standing beside her. Codsworth was floating beside her, both of them were already making a list, her fingers flying across an old notebook that she had found. 

“It seems like my sister’s already trying to make it home for you guys.” Edith replied, eyes flicking up to Preston. “It’s strange being back.” 

“Are you saying you two lived here?” 

“Before the war, yeah. There’s a vault just up the hill, they froze up for over two hundred years.” 

“So you’re saying that you two lived here before the bombs? Like one of those pre war ghouls?” 

She watched Esther crinkle her nose, before sliding off the pillar. “I’m not sure what a ghoul is, though here’s an idea. My sister and I know nothing about living here in this time. I swear it was a fluke that the giant lizard thing didn’t kill me. Therefore, Sanctuary Hills could be a really good settlement. We’ll help, you guys could live here. But you guys need to help us get at least a basic education."

She watched Preston smile at Esther’s hand held out. He reached over and grabbed it, smiling. “I think that I’ll take you up on that deal.” 

  
That was step one, finding someone that would help them understand this new world. Once they were ready, they would find Shaun even if it meant going to hell and back. 

* * *

Esther had been avoiding Codsworth, or anyone really, all day. She had offered to struggle with building the turrets as she growled once again at the schematics that Edith had drawn up.  She bit her lip, trying to not yell as she was once again electrocuted. While it seemed liked Edith could sneeze and build anything out of a few metal parts and wires, it seemed Esther could only manage burn marks on her hands.  She turned to look at her sister, helping Struges attempt to scrap another building as they smiled and laughed. 

Both of the girls had avoided Codsworth since they had woken up at sunrise this morning, because they knew what was going to happen the moment that he saw them. 

_ Happy birthday Miss Edith and Miss Esther! _

It was a sore wound that they had, they hadn’t even planned on spending their eighteenth birthday together. Now here they were in a world ravished by war, spending their eighteenth birthday turning an old neighborhood into a settlement. 

As far as they had been concerned a few weeks (and two centuries ago) Esther would have had to ditch school that day and spend her entire day at the closing of Nuka World.  It had been their greatest money scheme, managed to get a thousand other school children pulled out in order to get a picture with the current Miss Nuka World as she smiled in a pink poofy dress in Kiddie Kingdom. It would be the only day to get it with the original daughter of Nuka World, because next summer she would crown another bright-eyed girl. 

Edith would have also missed school with their Dad allowing her to attend the newest lecture at C.I.T. done about the history of the space race provided by RepConn. She had already been told she was going to graduate the next spring as Valedictorian, the highest GPA in the school. Even though only spending three months in her clubs when they arrived at the school she was president of all three.

They would have gotten a cake at around nine that night when both of them were home.  Unless Codsworth chased Nate out of the kitchen, it would’ve been a Chocolate Mayonnaise cake that they had grown up with when the war was at its hardest. 

Instead, Esther was fighting with a turret that finally decided to whir to life.  She turned to see her sister smile at her, before being lifted up by Sturges to rip part of the roof off. Strangely, she preferred this to what had originally been their plan. It seemed that it had allowed both sisters to be themselves rather than what everyone thought they should be. The pressure to be perfect had died with the rest of the world. 

She wiped her hair out of her face, before sliding off the pillar and heading to what they had called the Common House. Codsworth had created a list of everything that had needed to be done in order to get things up to a decided standard. He had been excited to have people to help again, taking up with doing anything asked of him and patrolling the streets at night so everyone could get sleep.He had it posted on the wall by the Power Armor station. Since there were so many things to do with so few individuals it was a mix of who did what. 

“Codsworth told me that two of our settlers had a birthday.” She turned to look at Preston, leaning against the red workbench. “It’s your guys first Commonwealth birthday.” 

“We’ve survived in the Commonwealth for less than a month.” She replied, shaking her head. “It’s not that big of a deal. How about this, we survive til our next birthday then we can make a thing.” 

“I’m going to hold you to that.” He looked at her, smiling. “We’re going to have a trader come in sometime today. I’ll let you buy a smaller jacket if you want, your sister too. A birthday present from all of us.” 

Esther shook her head no as she wrapped up more in the old ratty military jacket. It had been her father’s when he first had enlisted. When everything had been happy, a cheerful father and a mother who was living and loved both of them.It had become more of a security thing really, something to show that her life from before had actually been real and not some twisted dream. “It’s my father’s jacket. He died in the Vault, someone came after our little brother and he refused to give Shaun up. Whoever took him, shot him. I want to wear it all time so the moment I find Shaun, he'll have one thing to remember his father by.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I have any more I've written I'll upload them this weekend. Another bright side, I turn 24 in a few days. 
> 
> My husband keeps calling me an old lady.


End file.
